Two external SSDs with nominally high transfer rates via USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 have to prove themselves in the editorial test: the Corsair EX100U with 1.6 GB/s and the WD Black P40 with 2 GB/s. In practice, however, this high performance is only very rarely and/or very briefly available, even with the right USB port.
Table of contents
- Introduction
- Corsair EX100U in detail
- Light and compact wrapped in plastic
- Fast thanks to Phison “U18”
- Scope of delivery
- WD Black P40 Game Drive in detail< ol>
- Larger and heavier with aluminum
- Up to 2,000 MB/s with NVMe technology
- Scope of delivery
- Write and SLC mode
- Read and copy
- PCMark and 3DMark
- CrystalDiskMark
Introduction
External SSDs with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 and thus up to 20 Gbit/s are still not a mass phenomenon, but with the EX100U Corsair added an interesting product to the market segment . The WD Black P40 Game Drive has been available for a while and is a bit faster on paper.
Corsair EX100U im Details
Light and compact cased in plastic
With dimensions of 79 × 37 × 11 mm, the Corsair EX100U is smaller in area than a credit card, which is 86 × 54 × 0.76 mm according to ISO standard 7810. The external memory only clearly surpasses the chip card in terms of height and ultimately also in terms of volume. The weight of the Corsair EX100U is said to be only 22 g, which also makes it one of the lightest external SSDs.
In addition to the compact form factor, the case material used is also responsible for the weight: plastic. However, what has an advantage in terms of weight will have a disadvantage later in the test – namely in terms of temperature.
Fast thanks to Phison “U18”
Corsair advertises sequential transfer rates of a maximum of 1,600 MB/s when reading and 1,500 MB/s when writing. For this, the host system must offer a USB port with at least 20 Gbit/s (USB 3.2 Gen 2×2) – slower ports are of course also supported. Inside there is no NVMe SSD with a bridge chip that converts the signals into the USB protocol. Instead, a native USB SSD controller is used with the Phison PS2251-18 aka “U18”. Phison had advertised it with up to 1,900 MB/s, so the maximum is not reached here.
1,600 MB/s is still significantly more than via USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbit/s) is possible. For example, a Crucial X8 Portable (test) only achieves a maximum of 1,050 MB/s. With Thunderbolt 3, on the other hand, it is even faster and, for example, the Samsung Portable X5 (test) achieves 2,800 MB/s, but is less compact.
Scope of delivery
The scope of delivery includes a cable with a connection to USB-A or USB-C. Hardware-based data encryption standards are not supported. In addition, there is no certification for protection against dust and water, as is the case with the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable.
WD Black P40 Game drive in detail
Bigger and heavier with aluminum
The P40 is 107 × 50.8 × 13 mm Game Drive a fair bit bigger and almost 3 cm longer. The weight is significantly higher at around 79 g, which is also due to the fact that the case is made of aluminum. The heavier material has the advantage of good thermal conductivity.
Up to 2,000 MB/s with NVMe technology
With the same external interface (USB 3.2 Gen 2×2), Western Digital relies internally on the NVMe SSD SN560E with PCIe 3.0 x4 and TLC-NAND. A bridge chip is used to “translate” from PCIe to USB. According to the manufacturer, the maximum data transfer rates are 2,000 MB/s reading and writing. The test sample with 500 GB should still manage 2,000 MB/s reading and 1,950 MB/s writing. The performance class corresponds to the slightly larger and heavier P50 Game Drive, which still does not work flawlessly via USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. So much can be revealed in advance: These problems did not occur with the P40 Game Drive.
Scope of delivery
The P40 Game Drive comes with connection cables with USB-A and USB-C plugs as well as quick installation instructions. As with the EX100U, neither data encryption nor special protection against environmental influences are offered. An additional gimmick is the subtle RGB lighting on the flanks of the SSD, which can be individually adjusted using the software (WD Dashboard) under Windows.
The WD_Black P40 comes with underbody RGB lightingComparison of key technical data
Pro Portable Crucial
X8 Portable Samsung
Portable T7 Samsung
Portable X5 Dimensions (L × W × H) 79 × 37 × 11mm 107 × 50.8 × 13mm 110.3 × 57.3 × 10.2mm 110 × 53 × 11.5mm 85 × 57 × 8, 0mm 117 × 62 × 19.7mm Weight 22g 79g 79g 100g 58g 150g Capacities 1TB, 2TB, 4TB 500GB, 1TB, 2TB 500GB, 1TB, 2TB 500GB , 1 TB 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB interface (external) USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbit/s) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbit/s) Thunderbolt 3 interface (internal) PCIe/NVMe connector USB type C to type A/C USB Type-C to Type-C Max Transfer Rate 1600MB/s 2000MB/s 1050MB/s 1050MB/s 2800MB/s Controller Phison PS2251-18 Western Digital SMI 2263 Samsung NAND Flash ? TLC QLC TLC Encryption – AES, 128 bit – AES, 256 bit Protection class – IP55 – Warranty 3 years 5 years 3 years
Test results
Write and SLC mode
The measurements show that the EX100U only has about 20 GB with full throughput of 1.6 GB/s. The following 300 GB are only written at 1.2 GB/s until the lowest level of around 800 MB/s is reached and it is roughly on par with the Samsung T7 Portable Shield (test).
Performance seq. Write by level
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
- Samsung T7 Portable Shield 2 TB
Performance seq. Write by level (Corsair EX100U 2 TB) 04008001,2001,6002,000Megabytes per second (MB/s) 150100150200250300350400450500550600seconds
- Corsair EX100U 2TB
Performance seq. Write by level (Samsung T7 Portable Shield 2 TB) 04008001,2001,6002,000Megabytes per second (MB/s) 150100150200250300350400450500550600seconds
- Samsung T7 Portable Shield 2 TB
While the above measurements have a synthetic character, a worse picture emerges in practical use when describing via Windows Explorer. 1,000 MB/s is only achieved briefly before the performance drops below 700 MB/s. The performance drops further when writing continuously.
The reason: The EX100U reaches 80 °C relatively quickly in its plastic housing, which is more insulating than it supports heat dissipation. Performance is throttled to protect against overheating.
Performance Write by Level (Corsair EX100U 2 TB) 04008001,2001,6002,000Megabytes per second (MB/s) 1102030405060708090100110120130140150160170180190Level (x10 GB)
- Corsair EX100U 2TB – empty
- Corsair EX100U 2TB – 50% full
- Corsair EX100U 2TB – 80% full
The following series of screenshots shows the temperature level reached by the EX100U with its plastic housing and how the transfer rates collapse as a result. As soon as the temperature threshold of 80 °C is reached, the transfer rate drops from 700 MB/s to below 400 MB/s.
The Corsair EX100U quickly reaches 80 °C when writing and then throttles
The WD_Black P40 does not have this temperature problem, since it reaches a maximum of 56 °C in the same tests. On the other hand, it turns out that the maximum write rates promised on the packaging are only achieved for less than 10 GB. After this very tight SLC mode, there are then only a little over 300 MB/s.
WD_Black P40 512 GB
- Performance seq. write after level
- Performance Write by Level
Performance seq. Write by Level (WD_Black P40 512 GB) 0100200300400500Megabytes per second (MB/s) 150100150200250300350400450500550600seconds
- WD_Black P40 512GB
Performance Write by Level (WD_Black P40 512 GB) 0100200300400500Megabyte (MB) 1357911131517192123252729313335373941434547Level (x10 GB)
- WD_Black P40 512GB – 50% full
- WD_Black P40 512GB – 80% full
Transfers of several 100 GB will take a good six times as long as a brief estimate based on the transfer rates indicated on the packaging.
The WD_Black P40 does not get warmer than 56 °C under continuous write load
Read and Copy
In practical reading, the Corsair EX100U with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) is barely faster than USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) models. Here, the faster interface is not used for a long time. The WD_Black P40 gets a lot more out of it and is over 60 percent ahead.
Charts
- Copy from SSD
- Copy to SSD, 195GB Steam Games
88 Entries Copy from SSD
- 10 GB .rar to RAM disk:
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB2.200
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB2.117
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB2.112
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB2.088
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB2.065
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB2.050
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB2.037
- Corsair MP600 1 TB2.035
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB2.028
- Corsair MP600 Pro 2 TB2.027
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB2.026
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB2 .024
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB2.000
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB1,975
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB1,961
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB1.955
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB1.943
- Corsair MP510 1 TB1.932
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB1.928
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB 1.2A1.917
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB1.877
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB1.804
- WD_Black SN750 1 TB1.803
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB1.795
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB1.787
- Corsair MP600 2 TB1.758
- Intel 670p 1 TB1.744
- Samsung 980 1 TB1.693
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB1.568
- Crucial P5 2 TB1.548
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB1.515
- Crucial P5 1 TB1.499
- Kingston A2000 1 TB1.491
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-48001.243 - Kingston A1000 480 GB957
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB956
- Crucial P3 1 TB942
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1 TB V2825
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800736 - Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB725
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1TB V1701
- Crucial X6 Portable 2 TB497
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR033495
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB494
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR010492
- SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB475
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB462
- Crucial MX500 4 TB450
- Patriot P210 2 TB (2nd sample)441
- Crucial X6 Portable 4 TB380Note the notes in the text
- Patriot Supersonic Prime244
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB141
li>
- 23 GB Steam folder to RAM disk:
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB2.144
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB2. 096
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB2.079
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB2.062
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB2.046
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB2.043
- Adata Legend 840 1TB2.035
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB2.013
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB2.003
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB1.981
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB1.965
- Corsair MP600 Per 2TB1,955
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB1.933
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB1.931
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB1.926
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB1.924
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB1.912< /li>
- Corsair MP600 1 TB1.867
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB 1.2A1.861
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB1.840
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB1.765
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB1.763
- Intel 670p 1 TB1.700
- Crucial P5 2 TB1.681
- Corsair MP510 1 TB1.681
- WD_Black SN750 1 TB1.647
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB1.638
- Crucial P5 1 TB1.615
- Corsair MP600 2 TB1.602
- Samsung 980 1 TB1.601
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB1.450
- Kingston A2000 1 TB1.390
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB1.377
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5 -48001.342 - Crucial P3 1 TB955
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB951
- Kingston A1000 480 GB886
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB V2815
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800744 - Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB720
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V1678
- Crucial X6 Portable 4 TB514
- Crucial X6 Portable 2 TB483
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR010481
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR033481
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB472
- Patriot P210 2 TB (2nd sample)461
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB452
- Crucial MX500 4 TB449
- SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB444
- Patriot Supersonic Prime201
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB138
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Unit: Megabytes per second (MB/s) 90 Entries Copy to SSD, 195 GB Steam Games
- Duration:
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB98
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB100
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB100
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB102
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB104
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB104
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB104
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB106
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB108
- Corsair MP600 Pro 2 TB108
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB 1.2A110
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB110
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB119
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB119
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB121
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB132
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB144
- Corsair MP600 1 TB147
- Corsair MP600 2 TB150
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB152
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB153
- WD_Black SN750 1 TB183
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB210
- Crucial P5 2 TB228
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB249
- Crucial P5 1 TB292
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB294
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB322
- Samsung 980 1 TB358
- Corsair MP510 1 TB369
- Kingston A2000 1 TB378
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V1480
- Intel 670p 1 TB519
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB536
- Kingston A1000 480 GB538
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB617
- Crucial X6 Portable 4 TB659
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1 TB V2690
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800694 - Corsair EX100U 2TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800751 - Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB930
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR010992
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR0331.006
- Crucial MX500 4 TB1.050
- Patriot P210 2TB (2nd Sample)1,154
- Crucial P3 Plus 1TB2,117
- Crucial P3 1 TB2.141
- Crucial X6 Portable 2 TB2.289
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB2.773
- Crucial BX200 480 GB2,989
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB4.780
- Patriot Supersonic Prime7.739
li>
Unit: seconds
- Transfer rate (average):
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB2.036
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB2.002
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB1.960
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB1.929
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB1.919
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB1.918
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB1.897
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB1.860< /li>
- Corsair MP600 Pro 2 TB1.845
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB 1.2A1.819
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB1.814
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB1.688
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB1.684
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB1.652
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB1.529
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB1.394
- Corsair MP600 1 TB1.362
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB1.318
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB1.307
- WD_Black SN750 1 TB1.093
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB954
- Crucial P5 2 TB879
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< li class="chart__row chart__row--hidden toggle-body-item nojs-tr">Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB805
- Crucial P5 1TB684
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB680
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB622
- Samsung 980 1 TB562
- Corsair MP510 1 TB543
- Kingston A2000 1 TB530
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V1417
- Intel 670p 1 TB393
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB374
- Kingston A1000 480 GB372< /li>
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB325
- Crucial X6 Portable 4 TB304
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800288 - SanDisk Extreme Portable 1 TB V2286
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800268 - Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB215
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR033199
- Crucial MX500 4 TB191
- Patriot P210 2 TB (2nd pattern)173
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB95
- Crucial X6 Portable 2 TB88
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB72
- Crucial BX200 480 GB67
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB42
- Patriot Supersonic Prime26
Unit: Megabytes per second (MB/s)
The supposedly fast USB SSDs perform poorly when duplicating the Steam folder. Both the P40 and the EX100U are behind models with a slower interface and therefore also below expectations.
PCMark and 3DMark
< p class="p text-width">The Corsair EX100U does not do well in PCMark either. Instead of being in the upper segment of USB SSDs, it is between the two variants of the Crucial X6 Portable with only 545 points. It is therefore slower than all internal SATA SSDs in the test field (can be shown using the + in the chart).
Charts
- PCMark10 Quick System Drive Benchmark
- 3DMark Storage Benchmark
153 entries PCMark10 Quick System Drive Benchmark
- points:
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB4,457
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB3.810
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB3.644
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB3.542
- HP FX900 Per 2TB3.467
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB3.379
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB3.279
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB3.239
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB3.178
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB3.158
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB3.121
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB3.100
- Crucial P3 1 TB3.029
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB2.985
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB2.961
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB 1.2A2.932
- Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB2.919
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB2.892
- Corsair MP600 1 TB2.854
- Corsair MP600 2 TB2. 843
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB2.795
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB2.724
- Corsair MP510 1 TB2.724
- Intel 670p 1 TB2.697
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB2.636
- Corsair MP600 Pro 2 TB2.633
- Samsung 980 1 TB2.607
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB2.586
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB2.228
- Crucial P5 2 TB2.013
- Kingston A2000 1 TB2.006
- Crucial P5 1 TB1.959
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB1.793
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB1.520
- Samsung 870 Evo 2 TB1.387
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB1.373
- WD_Black SN750 1 TB1.368
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB1.298< /li>
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB V21.098
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-48001.096
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li>
< li class="chart__row">Crucial X8 Portable 1 TB1.094
- Crucial MX500 1 TB M3CR010988
- Patriot P2xx 2TB (1st sample)969
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR033947< /li>
- Crucial MX500 4 TB911
- Patriot P210 2TB (2nd Sample)900
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1TB V1861
- Kingston A1000 480 GB793
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB665
- SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB658
- Crucial X6 Portable 2 TB653
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800545 - Seagate Exos X18 TB487
- Crucial X6 Portable 4 TB476
- Patriot Supersonic Prime450
- WD Red 6 TB (WD60EFRX)333
- Synology HAT5300-8T305
- Seagate IronWolf 4TB (ST400VN008)145
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB127
Unit: Points
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB531
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB455
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB443
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB431
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB424
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB414
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB400
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB390
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB386
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB381
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB381
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB376
- Crucial P3 1 TB368
- Corsair MP600 1 TB367
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB 1.2A361
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB359
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB351
- Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB350
- Corsair MP600 2 TB347
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB343
- Intel 670p 1 TB333
- Corsair MP510 1 TB333
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB333
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB325
- Corsair MP600 Pro 2 TB324
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB319
- Samsung 980 1 TB318
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB316
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB275
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB260
- Kingston A2000 1 TB250
- Crucial P5 2 TB247
- Crucial P5 1 TB242
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB218
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB190
- Samsung 870 Evo 2 TB173
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB171
- WD_Black SN750 1 TB170
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB162< /li>
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB V2137
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800136 - Crucial X8 Portable 1 TB136
- Crucial MX500 1 TB M3CR010124
- Patriot P2xx 2TB (1st sample)123
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR033119< /li>
- Crucial MX500 4 TB115
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V1115
- Patriot P210 2TB (2nd sample)114
- Kingston A1000 480 GB100
- SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB84
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB83
- Crucial X6 Portable 2 TB82
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-480077 - Crucial X6 Portable 4 TB65
- Seagate Exos X18 TB63
- Patriot Supersonic Prime62
- WD Red 6 TB (WD60EFRX)44
- Synology HAT5300-8T40
- Seagate IronWolf 4 TB (ST400VN008)19
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB17
Unit: Megabytes per second ( MB/s)
- Samsung 990 Pro 2TB28
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB33
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB35
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB36
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB37
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2 TB38
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB39
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB39
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB40
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB40
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB41
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB41
- Crucial P3 1 TB42
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB43
- Corsair MP600 1 TB43
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB43
- Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB43
- Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB 1.2A44
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB44
- Corsair MP600 2 TB45
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB46
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB47
- Corsair MP510 1 TB47
- Intel 670p 1 TB48
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB49
- Corsair MP600 Pro 2 TB49
- Samsung 980 1 TB49
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB50
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB50
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB58
- Crucial P5 2 TB64
- Kingston A2000 1 TB65
- Crucial P5 1 TB66
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB71
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB86
- Samsung 870 Evo 2 TB94
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB95
- WD_Black SN750 1 TB95
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB101
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800119 - SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB V2119
- Crucial X8 Portable 1 TB119
- Crucial MX500 1 TB M3CR010133
- Patriot P2xx 2TB (1st Sample)137
- Crucial MX500 1TB M3CR033139
- Crucial MX500 4 TB145
- Patriot P210 2TB (2nd pattern) 148
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V1162
- Kingston A1000 480 GB167
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB196
- Crucial X6 Portable 2 TB202
- SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB203
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800271 - Seagate Exos X18 TB277
- Crucial X6 Portable 4 TB300
- Patriot Supersonic Prime320
- WD Red 6 TB (WD60EFRX)413
- Synology HAT5300-8T450
- Seagate IronWolf 4TB (ST400VN008)933
li>
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< li class="chart__row chart__row--hidden toggle-body-item nojs-tr">Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB1.089
Unit: microseconds (µs)
24 entries 3DMark Storage Benchmark
- points:
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB3.779
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB3,422
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB3,327
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB3.170
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB3.145
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB2.720
- Crucial P3 1 TB2.529
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB2.370
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800999 - Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800777
Unit: Points
- Transfer rate:
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB640< /li>
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB581
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB570
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB546
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB538
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB466
- Crucial P3 1 TB433
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB413
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800169 - Corsair EX100U 2TB
i9- 12900K, DDR5-4800128
li>
Unit: Megabytes per second (MB/s)
- Latency:
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB47
- Samsung 990 Per 2TB52
- WD_Black SN850 1 TB54
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB57
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB57
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB66
- Crucial P3 1 TB71
- WD_Blue SN550 2 TB77
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800177 - Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800222
Unit: nanoseconds
In the 3DMark Storage Benchmark, which tests the gaming performance of an SSD, there are still no comparative values from the category of external SSDs. However, internal SSDs are already playing in a completely different league with PCIe 3.0.
CrystalDiskMark
This once again shows clearly: The result in the standard benchmark CrystalDiskMark belies the practical performance. The Corsair EX100U meets the manufacturer's specification of 1,600 MB/s in the benchmark reading and writing, and the WD_Black P40 is also “rapid as an arrow”. However, only “real” tests, as above, show that this is no longer achieved very quickly in practical use.
CrystalDiskMark 8.0.1
- < li class="chartbundle-tabs__li" role="presentation">Read
- Write
116 entries CrystalDiskMark 8.0.1 ( Read)
- SEQ1M Q8T1:
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB7,439
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB7,425
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB7.422
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB7.407
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB7.352
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB7.349
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB7.342
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB7.339
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB7.318< /li>
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB7.308
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB7.272
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB7.191
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB6.865
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB6.852
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB6.850
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB5.054
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB5.014
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB4.937
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB4.715< /li>
- Crucial P3 1 TB3.659
- Samsung 980 1 TB3.567
- Crucial P5 1 TB3.517
- Intel 670p 1 TB3.312
- Kingston A2000 1 TB2.281
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-48002.018 - Corsair EX100U 2TB
i9- 12900K, DDR5-48001.687 - SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V11.027
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1 TB V21.025
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB1.023< /li>
- Patriot Supersonic Prime614
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB550
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB550
- Crucial MX500 4 TB531
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB149
- SEQ1M Q1T1:
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB5.101
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB4.431
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB4.383
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB4.382
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB4.312
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB4 .272
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB4.198
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB4.188
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB4.126
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB4.092
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB3.869
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB3. 823
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB3.717
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB3.662
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB3.550
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB3.394
- Crucial P3 Plus 1TB3.026
- Intel 670p 1 TB2.948
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB2.763
- Crucial P3 1 TB2.680
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB2.347
- Samsung 980 1 TB2.307
- Kingston A2000 1 TB1.995
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-48001.172 - Corsair EX100U 2TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800875
< li class="chart__row">SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V1815
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1 TB V2744
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB712
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB538
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB538
- Crucial MX500 4 TB459
- Patriot Supersonic Prime406
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB146
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB682
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB674
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB663
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB658
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB641
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB639
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB632
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB630
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB619
- Kingston A2000 1 TB602
- Intel 670p 1 TB554
- Samsung 980 1 TB553
- Crucial P3 1 TB551
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB544
- Crucial P5 1 TB543
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB540
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB539
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB538
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB529
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB527
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB527
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB519
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB506
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB463
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB265
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1TB V1264
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB V2257
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5- 4800234 - Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB232
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB231
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800220 - Crucial MX500 4 TB219
- Patriot Supersonic Prime213
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB1
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB89
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB88
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB87
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB87
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB87
< li class="chart__row chart__row--hidden toggle-body-item nojs-tr">Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB84
i9-12900K, DDR5-480040
i9-12900K, DDR5-480036
Unit: megabytes per second (MB/s) 116 entries CrystalDiskMark 8.0.1 (Write)
- SEQ1M Q8T1:
- Samsung 990 Pro 2TB6,883
< li class="chart__row chart__row--hidden toggle-body-item nojs-tr">Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB6.875
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB6.830
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB6.817
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB6.762
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB6.657
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB6.647
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB6.418
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB6.381
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB6.298
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB5.863
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB5.820
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB5.021
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB4.941
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB4.870
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB4.831
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB3. 638
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB3.607
- Crucial P5 1 TB3.298
- Samsung 980 1 TB2.864
- Intel 670p 1 TB2.585
- Kingston A2000 1TB2.179
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB1.938
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5 -48001.870 - Corsair EX100U 2TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-48001.560 - SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1TB V1968
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB V2957
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB933
- Patriot Supersonic Prime540
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB487
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB487
- Crucial MX500 4 TB473
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB140
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB5.927
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB5.908
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB5. 902
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB5.797
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB5,779
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB5.778
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB5.761
< li class="chart__row chart__row--hidden toggle-body-item nojs-tr">HP FX900 Pro 2 TB5.661
i9-12900K, DDR5-48001.606
i9-12900K, DDR5-48001.425
- Corsair MP600 Core 2 TB614
- Mushkin Delta 1 TB597
- Mushkin Gamma 2 TB568
- WD_Black SN850X 2 TB526
- Samsung 980 1 TB500
- Kingston A2000 1 TB494
- Crucial P5 1 TB493
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB466
- Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB465
- Samsung 980 Pro 500 GB457
- Intel 670p 1 TB442
- Seagate FireCuda 530 2 TB397
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB362
- HP FX900 Pro 2 TB357
- Crucial P3 1 TB348
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade 1 TB344
- Adata XPG Gammix S70 1 TB342
- Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2 TB341
- Adata Legend 840 1 TB339
- Corsair MP600 Pro LPX 2 TB338
- Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB335
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB333
- Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB306
- Asus ROG Strix SQ7 1 TB271
- WD_Black P40 500GB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800264 - Patriot Supersonic Prime259
- Samsung Portable T7 Shield 2 TB245
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1 TB V1244
- Corsair EX100U 2 TB
i9-12900K, DDR5-4800240 - SanDisk Extreme Portable 1 TB V2230
- Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB195
- Samsung 870 Evo 1 TB194
- Crucial MX500 4 TB194
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming HDD 5 TB6
li>
i9-12900K, DDR5-480081
i9-12900K, DDR5-480079
Unit: megabytes per second (MB/s)
Conclusion
With their compatibility with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, the Corsair EX100U and WD_Black P40 are on paper at the absolute top performance of external USB SSDs. But as is so often the case, the detailed and therefore very time-consuming test by the editors shows that not everything looks so rosy in practice.
The supposedly lightning-fast Corsair EX100U can, despite the fast interface can only be measured against slower models such as the Samsung T7 Shield in many disciplines – both writing and reading.
The main reason is the high temperatures: 80 °C are reached during prolonged load and the performance of the built-in SSD is severely throttled to prevent damage from overheating. So the EX100U is a hothead that only really runs for a short time. Anyone who writes more than 10 to 20 GB at a time to the external SSD can go straight for a slower and cheaper model.
In fact, the WD_Black P40 with 512 GB reads quickly in practice, often clearly outperforming the EX100U. Writing it for the first time with games or repeatedly with larger amounts of data also takes much longer than the information on the packaging would suggest. Because after the SLC buffer, which is less than 10 GB, the drive only writes at just over 300 MB/s instead of almost 2,000 MB/s, and in this case the temperature is not responsible for that. Compared to the WD_Black P50, which cannot be used reliably on the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port to this day, the P40 completed the test course via this interface with absolutely no problems.
The tested Corsair EX100U with 2 TB is currently available from 180 euros or 9 cents per GB. The WD_Black P40 with 500 GB costs 116 euros, which means a very high 23 cents per GB. In the 2 TB version, the P40 is similarly expensive at around 200 euros. Equipped with more memory chips, the write performance of the P40 should be better at 2 TB.
ComputerBase loaned the EX100U SSD from Corsair and the WD_Black P40 from WD for testing. The manufacturer did not influence the test report and there was no obligation to publish it. There was no NDA.
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